


Hand Sandwich

by nhasablog



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Minor Injuries, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 16:46:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nhasablog/pseuds/nhasablog
Summary: Bones decides to do daily check ups on Jim after he kept an injury to himself. Unfortunately it becomes rather hard due to how ticklish the captain is, so Bones comes up with a solution.





	Hand Sandwich

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna delete my tumblr, so I'm posting a bunch of fics people have requested that never ended up here. I hope you like this! Feel free to unsubscribe to escape the email notifs lmao (but come back in, like, a week because ily)

Jim was in pain, and even though his friend didn’t vocalize his discomfort Bones had learnt to see the signs. He wasn’t walking with the same sort of confidence that always radiated from his steps, not wanting to move his limbs more than necessary. He wasn’t being as snarky, out of fear that someone would grab at him jokingly and accidentally hurt him more. He didn’t even talk as much, because he didn’t want to make it obvious that he was injured. But Bones could tell. He could always tell.

“You’re hurt.”

Jim took a second too long to answer. “I’m not.”

Bones gave him a look. “You’re lying straight to my face. That’s a new low, kid.”

Jim sighed. “Sorry, Bones. I’m… okay, I’m a little hurt.”

“How hurt?”

“Not too badly.”

“Jim.”

“It hurts when I laugh. And walk. And breathe.”

Bones pointed at him. “You come with me right now.”

Jim didn’t protest, and all but followed him with his tail between his legs.

“Sit,” Bones ordered once they entered his room. Jim did without a word, and Bones washed his hands in silence before walking over to him. “Where does it hurt?”

Jim seemed reluctant. “Do we have to do this?”

Bones raised an eyebrow. “Why are you always so stubborn when it comes to showing me where you’re injured?”

Jim didn’t reply, but just grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it off. “It hurts here.” He pointed to a spot on the side of his rib cage, but Bones honestly didn’t need to be shown where it was.

“Holy shit, Jim, it’s all bruised.” He leaned closer, eyes wide. “How long have you  _ had  _ this?”

Jim squirmed in his seat. “I got it a few days ago. I thought it’d start healing by now,” he was quick to add when Bones gave him a look.

“From now on I’m gonna do daily check ups on you. Unbelievable.” Bones reached out to examine the bruise, but Jim jerked away before his fingers had gotten any contact. “Come on, man, I gotta touch it.”

Jim inhaled sharply. “Just be careful.”

Pressing his fingertips as gently as he could on Jim’s skin, Bones felt around the injury, drawing a few moans from Jim in the process. “This doesn’t look  _ too  _ bad,” he muttered to himself. “I think all we can do is give it time.”

Jim instinctively relaxed. “Is that it?”

“I’m still gonna do daily check ups, mind you. I gotta make sure this won’t get worse, but for now I think you’re all good.”

If Jim was able to he would probably jump out of the room in glee, but considering that he was in pain he calmly put his shirt back on and exited the room with slow steps, calling out a “Thanks, Bones,” before leaving.

But Bones kept his word and  _ did  _ daily check ups, to Jim’s disappointment. While most of them only lasted a few minutes Bones found it increasingly harder to perform them as time went by, and that was entirely due to the fact that as the pain vanished Jim’s usual sensitivity returned, and it made it a lot harder for Bones to properly check his ribs for signs of injuries.

“Stop squirming,” he hissed, removing his hands automatically to get Jim to calm down.

“I’m sorry!” Jim choked out, holding out his hands defensively between them. “I can’t help it.”

“I know, but- Dammit, Jim, we’re not getting anywhere like this,” Bones said as Jim once again jerked away from his hands. “It’s endearing that you’re ticklish,” he said, ignoring Jim’s sputtering protests. “but we don’t have all day.”

“Stop being so gentle then,” Jim spat back, his face pinker than before.

“I  _ have  _ to be gentle. Have you ever heard of a doctor who wasn’t gentle?”

“Every single time they’re gonna stick a needle into my- hey!”

“Stop squirming!”

“Stop touching me!”

Every check up went along those lines each time. As much as Bones loved tickling Jim in general he realized that it wasn’t as fun when he was trying to do his job, so he did what every doctor should do and tried to come up with a solution. Fortunately this was a common problem in the medical world, so he didn’t have to research for very long until he found a potential way around it.

Jim walked into his daily check up without having to be dragged to it, looking like Bones was intending to kill him.

“Can we hurry up? Contrary to popular belief I actually do have a ship to run,” he said as he took his regular seat.

“You’re in luck, kid. I think I know how to make this check up easier for us both.”

Jim frowned. “I draw the line at restraints.”

Bones grinned at that. “Don’t worry. You’ll still have the control of your body. In fact, you’ll be in more control than ever.”

“You sound like you’re gonna mess with my brain. Should I be scared?”

“Have some faith, Jim. I would never purposely hurt you.”

“Purposely. Wow. I’m leaving.” He hopped down from his seat and started for the door, but Bones was faster and grabbed him by the arm.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing? I’ve actually found a way to make this less ticklish, and you’re gonna leave?”

“You’re giving off this weird vibe. It’s freaking me out.” Jim let himself be pushed toward his seat again. “Stop acting all ominously and just get on with it.”

Bones had to take a second to just breathe before he started explaining. “There’s this technique that they call the ‘hand sandwich’. I basically place my hand on your skin, then you place your hand on mine, and then I place my other hand on yours to create the sandwich. That way you will be in more control, since you’re going to follow my movements. You know how you can’t tickle yourself because you’re not catching yourself off guard?” Jim nodded. “It’s sort of like that.” Bones paused briefly. “Huh. I guess I kind of  _ am  _ messing with your brain.”

Jim barked out a laugh. “You might be, but this plan of yours sounds intriguing. Let’s try it.”

“We’ve got nothing to lose, right? If we fail you’ll just double over with laughter like you usually do.”

Jim was shaking his head. “I’ve never laughed as much as I have during these past few weeks. Not sure if I should thank you or not.”

“Don’t thank me. You wouldn’t mean it. Now off with your shirt.”

Jim obliged, and for once his nervousness wasn’t combined with dread, but rather with hope. Jim didn’t usually mind being tickled, but it was different if you had to try to keep still, Bones had realized.

Bones rubbed his hands together. “All right. Here we go.” He put his right hand on Jim’s lower ribs and suppressed a grin when Jim flinched automatically. Jim placed his own hand on Bones’, which was promptly followed by Bones’ other hand. He felt a little silly doing this, but it was apparent as soon as he started moving his hand around and feeling for injuries that this was a lot more effective. Jim wasn’t squirming nor laughing, so Bones was able to do the most thorough check up that he’d ever done on his friend. It was quite refreshing.

Jim was over the moon once they’d finished. “This is great! From now on I’m going to go through each check up and only whine a little bit.”

“You can’t tell, but my brain’s dancing in relief.” Bones took a step back. “Well, it looks like your ribs are all healed.”

“Really?” Jim’s grin got even bigger. “That calls for a celebration.”

“Oh, I’m gonna celebrate all right. I’ve been waiting for weeks to do this.”

“What- no, no, no, please dohohon’t!”

Bones pinned his friend against his seat, hands flying everywhere in the most ticklish manner he could muster. He’d longed to do this for weeks. Ever since they’d been roommates he’d found that tickling Jim was one of the most fun activities he’d tried, and he usually never passed up an opportunity to mess with him. Not being able to reduce his friend to a giggling mess for so long had been torture.

All those days of momentary tickling had made Jim more sensitive than ever, and his laughter was ringing in the room in a way that even surprised Bones. It was a glorious sound, and the squirming and thrashing only made the moment better. Bones could tell that Jim was enjoying it, too.

“Shihihit!” he cried as Bones went to town on his ribs, just for the hell of it.

“What’s wrong, kid? Can’t take it?”

Jim was unable to reply, and that was how they spent the next few moments; with Jim laughing like crazy underneath Bones’ merciless hands.


End file.
